Applicant is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,388. The invention disclosed and claimed in the '388 patent involved eyewear comprised of a pair of lenses, releaseable connectors connected to respective inner ends of the lenses, a pair of temples pivotable to respective outer ends of the lenses and a rigid strap attached between rear ends of the temples. The strap was taught to be positioned below the lenses so as not to interference with a hairdo or helmet. The inner ends of the lenses were taught to be releasably secured together by the connectors, preferably, magnets. To position the eyewear, the lenses are first separated from each other and pivoted outwardly. The strap is then wrapped around the back of a user's head and the lenses pivoted towards each other and secured together in front of the eyes. The lenses were taught to be instantly separable for easily putting on and taking off the eyewear, but they are instantly connectable for a secure and accurate fit.
FIG. 1 depicts the eyewear generally disclosed and claimed in applicant's '388 patent. Specifically, lenses 10 were shown to be preferably mounted in respective frames 14 which are pivoted to temples 12. Connectors 11 are attached to respective inner ends of frames 14. Temples 12 are preferably telescoping for fitting different wearers. As noted, temples 12 were taught to be pivoted to the respective outer ends of frames 14 and include hook portion 16 for hooking around a user's ears. Strap 13 was taught to be positioned below lenses 10 so as to avoid interfering with a hairdo or helmet and preferably springy enough to retain its shape when released, but also flexible enough to be bendable to some extent without breaking. Alternatively, strap 13 was taught to be at the same level as temples 12, but at a loss of some advantages. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,388 is incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 2 depicts as oval 50, the head of a user from a perspective above the user facing straight down thereupon. The major axes of user's head 50 are shown from front to back as 21 and side to side as 22. The '388 patent taught, as a preferred embodiment, the ability to alter the length of the strap/temple pieces in the event the user's head along axis 21 was particularly large to minimize the inadvertent separation of the lenses by disengagement of connectors 11. It was found that if a user had a particularly elongated head along axis 21, normal use of the eyewear could result in lenses 10 separating from one another by inadvertent detachment of connectors 11 which would discourage continued use of such eyewear. However, the former eyewear disclosed by applicant had no way to accommodate users whose heads were particularly wide thus having a dimension along axis 22 which is of considerable proportion.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide eyewear with a snap connector bridge capable of adjustment along both major axes of a user's head to thus provide such eyewear to a greater segment of the using public.
These and further objects will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.